The largest academic association of genocide academics has approved a resolution that says that legal criteria have been fulfilled to establish that Israel is committing genocide in Gaza, its president said on Monday.
The eighty -six percent of those who voted between the International Scholars Association of Genocide of 500 members (IAGS) supported the resolution that declares that the “policies and actions and actions in Gaza” of Israel had fulfilled the legal definition established in article II of the UN Convention of 1948 on Genocide.
Israel launched its devastating assault on the Gaza Strip in October 2023, after Hamas fighters attacked Israeli communities, killed 1,200 people and captured more than 250 hostages. Since then, Israel’s military action has killed 63,000 people, damaged or destroyed most buildings in the territory and forced almost all its residents to flee their homes at least once.
A global hunger monitor in which it is based on the United Nations says that parts of the territory are now suffering a man -made famine, what Israel also denies.
The resolution of three pages asks Israel that “immediately cease all acts that constitute genocide, crimes of war and crimes against humanity against the Palestinians in Gaza, including deliberate attacks and the death of civilians, including children; hunger; deprivation of humanitarian aid, water, fuel and other essential elements for the survival of the population; sexual and reproductive violence; population”.
It also establishes that Hamas attack to Israel, which precipitated fighting, constituted international crimes.
“This is a definitive statement of experts in the field of genocide studies that what is happening in the field in Gaza is genocide,” said the president of the association, Melanie O’Brien, a professor of international law at the University of Western Australia who specializes in genocide. Reuters.
“There is no justification for the war crimes commission, crimes against humanity or genocide, not even self -defense,” he added.
The Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs described the shameful statement and “completely based on Hamas’s lies campaign.” In the past, Israel has strongly denied that its actions in Gaza are equivalent to genocide and claim that they are justified as self -defense. He is fighting a case in the International Court of Justice in the beef that accuses him of genocide.
Convention adopted following the Holocaust
The UN Genocide Convention of 1948, adopted following the mass murder of the Jews by Nazi Germany, defines genocide as crimes committed “with the intention of destroying, in its entirety or part, a national, ethnic, racial or religious group, as such.” It requires that all countries act to prevent and stop genocide.
Since the Genocide Scholars Association was founded in 1994, it has approved nine resolutions that recognize historical or ongoing episodes as genocides.
The IAGS publishes a magazine and has regular international conferences of academics studying genocide, and is considered the largest academic group in the countryside. Another group, the International Network of Genocide Academics, also has conferences and publishes a magazine, but does not issue similar resolutions.
Ismail Al-Thawabta, head of the Gaza Government Media Office, welcomed the “prestigious academic position” of the resolution, which said “establishes a legal and moral obligation in the international community to take urgent measures to stop the crime, protect civilians and hold the leaders of the occupation.”
Sergey Vasiliev, Professor of International Law at the Open University in the Netherlands who is not a member of the association, he said Reuters The resolution showed that “this legal evaluation has become the main current in the academy, particularly in the field of genocide studies.”
Several international rights groups and some Israeli NGOs have already accused Israel of committing genocide.
Last week, hundreds of UN personnel in the Office of the High Commissioner of Human Rights Volker Turk wrote to ask him to explicitly describe the Gaza conflict as a developing genocide, according to a letter reviewed by Reuters.
